To Be Her
by STR0B3L1T3
Summary: Sometimes, she wished their friendship was back to the way it is. But she always wondered if things would come full circle.


To Be Her

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. **

It's another Saturday night and I'm just lounging around with the guys. Yeah, it annoys me most of the time when they want to do their "guy things", but it doesn't bother me too much. I mean, there wasn't any real _drama_ involved, at least, until Sasuke started seeing _her_.

_Her_ name is Sakura. I couldn't believe that he was seeing _her_ of all people. _C_'mon, this is the girl with boobs bigger than her head. This is the junior who's hooked up with all the hot seniors and all the hot juniors at least once. I'm not sure what Sasuke sees in her, but _whatev'_.

Alright, for the record, Sasuke's been my friend for about as long as I can remember. We hung out whenever we could and we can tell each other _every_thing. As we got older – it changed. We don't hang out with the "cool group"; it's mainly just Sasuke, Neji, Deidara, Kiba, and I.

Sasuke's got dark hair, piercing blue eyes, and an angular face. He's definitely a heart throb. He's also one of the nicest guys on the strip.

Neji is my tennis buddy. He's the only one who really knows how to play any sports out of the group, other than surfing. He's got long black hair and _lavender_ eyes. He's pretty tall, being 6 foot 4 inches, but is toned to perfection.

Then there's Deidara. Deidara is the activist, fashionista kind. He's got hair like mine, and dark bluish green guys like mine. Most people say we could pass as brother and sister.

And, last, but not least, we have Kiba. Kiba's the crude, smooth-talking, player. He likes to hook up with girls, go surfing, and just chill. Kiba's got dark hair, and smoldering _purple_ eyes. It's a pretty wicked combination, if I say so.

And then there's _me_. My name is Ino. I'm 5 feet 5 inches. I have long, blond hair, a thin physique, a small waist, and long legs – so I've been told. I'm actually pretty nice, except when _she_'s brought up, I do well in school, and I'm athletic. I guess you could call me a tomboy too, because of my choice of company.

So, here I am, in Deidara's basement, hanging with the guys. They're doing their thing, mainly playing Deidara's Playstation 3, and talking about Sasuke's date with Sakura.

Kiba grinned, "I bet he just wants t' hook up with her 'n' _do_ shit."

I laughed, "oh gross, Kiba, only if he wants to catch some crabs."

The guys roared with laughter. I could be nice and sweet when I wanted, but with the guys I could be as crude as I wanted. An upside, if you will. I thought about it, maybe I _was_ envious that Sasuke was spending so much time with Sakura…

"Besides, we all know it's just a pity date. She is _such_ a fake and everybody knows it. I swear, everybody on the beach knows she uses guys," I mumbled, wondering if I was jealous. I just wished that he thought that way about _me_.

"Sakura is still _hot_," stated Neji, who was kicking butt on the PS3.

I know I'm not beautiful like she is. I know I don't have any tricks to make him fall head over heels in love with me, like she does. I know I'm pretty much just his little sister, but you know, a girl can hope.

"Yo, what's up with chu?" Kiba called out, still facing the screen.

I knew instantly that he was talking to me, "hey, it's nothing. Don't worry 'bout me." I was kind of annoyed that I had no one to talk about my Sasuke problems with.

"Pause the game guys, I'm gonna go up stairs to get a soda or something, yeah. Wanna come, Ino?" asked Deidara.

I nodded, "sure."

We sat around the island in Deidara's kitchen, "what's wrong, un?"

I smiled, albeit half-heartedly, "it's nothing you would understand…"

Deidara looked at me in the eye, "is this about Sasuke?"

Alright, now I was a little freaked out, how exactly did Deidara manage to be a guy and all sensitive like this? Never mind.

"Why do you guys always assume it's about him, huh? I mean, maybe I just want to be _that_ girl, the beautiful girl who hooks up with another guy everyday," I ground out, meaning every syllable.

Deidara nodded his understanding.

"Maybe, I want to be someone other than the girl who just 'tags along' with Sasuke," I whispered, making eye contact with him.

He smiled in understanding and walked around the island to pull me into a big bear hug. I totally curled up into it and sniffled for a few moments. Deidara's hugs are the _best_.

I looked up at him, and he looked down at me, and we had our moment.

My lips spread into a wide grin, "thanks Deidara."

He gave me a quick peck on the lips, and one on the forehead, "you're alright, un, I know it."

Speak of the devil, and he walks back into the house. I saw Sasuke and got all scared rabbit on him. As fast as I could, I headed back down the stairs to the safety of 'the guys'.

Even from downstairs I could hear Sasuke's confused, "so, what happened here?"

I could imagine Deidara's usual laidback shrug accompanied by a muffled, "nothing, just hanging with Ino and the guys, yeah."

You see, that was about all I actually heard with my own ears. Deidara, my faithful friend, informed me of the rest later, after the whole mess had blown over.

Apparently it went a little something like this.

Sasuke got all defensive on Deidara and muttered, "Yeah, hang out, _right_."

Deidara got curious, "dude, did, like, Sakura dump you? You're not acting like yourself, yeah."

"Dude, you were just like making out with my best friend, that's not 'nothing'."

My dear Deidara defends me, of course, "if you hadn't noticed, she was crying and not over me, un."

Sasuke gets all stuck up about it, "Ino and I are _best_ friends. We tell each other everything and if she had a problem, she would have come to me."

Deidara decides to give his big speech because Sasuke won't get his head out of his ass, "If you haven't noticed, Ino's not a little girl anymore. You and she don't just skip rocks anymore. Do you remember when her last date went totally wrong, and you didn't just pick her up, but you had to punch the guy out too? What about when she had that wicked nightmare and you let her sleep over? When was the last time you two even had a conversation about anything that mattered?"

Sasuke tells me that this was the moment he realized that Deidara was right.

"Seriously, just go talk to her, we're worried, and she's not herself," Deidara gave him the push he needed.

This is where my recollection of what happened comes back in because I came back up the stairs and asked, "uh, whatever you guys have been talking about must be interesting, because you've been up here for an awful long time. Deidara, the guys wanna start their game, better get back down there."

I watched Sasuke for a moment before fleeing downstairs. I seemed to be good at the whole 'scared rabbit' thing. I sighed and lounged in one of three soft couches in Deidara's basement.

There were about two more hours of playing video games before I bade them goodbye. Honestly, I couldn't see what was so fun about them.

After that I headed back out to my car, my beautiful Mercedes and Sasuke followed.

"Hey, wait up, Ino!" he called.

"Not tonight, I don't have time for this," I snapped at him, not bothering to turn around.

"I just wanted to see how you were, be a good friend and stuff, right?"

I rolled my eyes, puh-lease, this was the last thing I wanted to hear. After all this time, he considered us friends still?

Yeah, we hung out with the same group and stuff, but that didn't mean anything and I told him so, "you know what, I can't believe you still consider us friends. When was the last time we hung out?!"

I revved the engine of my car and pulled out of Deidara's driveway. Then, he followed me in his own car. I took the short cuts home and reached my driveway about 10 minutes before he did. I stalked up to my room, which by the way over looked an amazing view of the beach, and hooked up my iPod to the Bose speakers.

_All I wanna do is talk to you_

_All I wanna be is close to you_

_All I wanna do  
All I wanna do  
All I wanna do is talk to you  
All I wanna do  
All I wanna do  
All I wanna do is talk to you_

I was following Ino's slick black Mercedes through an intersection when she all of the sudden turns into a series of back alleys and I lose her. _FUCK_, I should've known that was how it took her less than 10 minutes to reach Kiba's house. I have to back track out on to the main road and head to her house the _normal_ way.

You see, our friendship has been on the rocks for 'bout a year now. Ever since Ino came crying to me after seeing her last boyfriend hooking up with Sakura. Before this, I had really liked Ino. As soon as she had calmed down, her head tucked beneath my chin, I looked at her in the eyes. Those beautiful blue-green depths and I leaned in for the kill.

_Nothing_ has been the same since then because she didn't even respond. I can't say I regret that moment, because I don't. Now, Ino and I just hang out with 'the guys', there's no more 'Wild West Wednesday' or 'Study Saturday'. What hurt the most was that she doesn't love me back. I, stupidly, believed that maybe if I dated other girls, it would get her to _notice_ me. Sick, I know, but then I went out with Sakura.

Ino hates Sakura because of what happened a year ago, so as a last resort, I started dating her. Sakura is gorgeous, perfect, and she got everything she wanted. This girl was _Queen_ _Bee_. Just as I was starting to get over Ino, I overheard Sakura throwing a tantrum, the cause of the tantrum? Her daddy didn't get her the right Mercedes for her birthday.

In my opinion, _boo-frickin'-hoo_. That's when I decided to stop fooling myself because nobody could compare to Ino.

That's what led me back to Deidara's house tonight. I wanted to apologize to Ino and tell her how much she meant to me. That was when I walked in on Deidara's little kiss with Ino. I was pissed off, but hey, she's still mine.

I remembered a time when Deidara and Ino had kissed and someone had taken a picture. She totally loved it because she said it looked like she was "kissing her twin!"

I pulled up to her mansion and rang the intercom. Her dad in his office let me through and I found Ino lying on her couch, curled up crying.

"Ino-"

"NO, don't start; just _get out_ of my house!" she yelled, her index finger pointed to the door.

I probably could have yelled back at her, but I did the only _other_ action I had been dying to do since forever. I walked up to her, tilted her head back, and kissed her. My other hand held her tight against me.

When I pulled away from that kiss – that she responded to – I put my forehead with hers. She looked up and smiled.

"I don't know what happened, but, when I'm with you, everything's alright."

**A/N: Please review! **


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